Ducks want to keep building momentum in second half

Ducks center Nick Bonino, center, is congratulated by center Ryan Getzlaf, left, and left wing Jakob Silfverberg, right, after scoring Tuesday. The Ducks would like to avoid last season's stumble to the finish line. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

DUCKS AT MIDSEASON

WHAT'S GONE RIGHT

• The Ducks ultimately go as their captain goes, and Ryan Getzlaf is at the top of his game. He is a legitimate Hart Trophy candidate with 20 goals, including his first two career hat tricks. Corey Perry (22 goals) is finding the net with regularity again and Nick Bonino (11 goals, 16 assists) has been an unsung critical piece.

• A defense corps that was a major question mark has exceeded expectations. Cam Fowler's improvement at both ends earned him a spot on the U.S. Olympic team and no one anticipated Ben Lovejoy playing at a top-pair level. The Ducks have not missed the injured Luca Sbisa and Sheldon Souray because Hampus Lindholm, 19, has been terrific.

• The Ducks have used their tremendous depth to their advantage. Forwards Kyle Palmieri and Patrick Maroon have found themselves in the press box at times despite making key contributions, while Emerson Etem is back in the minors. And the Daniel Winnik-Saku Koivu-Andrew Cogliano shutdown line is providing offense as well.

WHAT'S GONE WRONG

• Despite sitting out several games to stay fresh, Teemu Selanne has just four goals and seven assists in 31 games. His ice time is down to an average of 14 minutes, and his 19 games without a goal tied a career-worst.

• They've got a top playmaker in Getzlaf, an elite goal scorer in Perry and one of the NHL's greatest power-play performers in Selanne, but the Ducks' work with the man advantage has been disappointing at best. Fowler has been better at quarterbacking the power play of late, but Souray's big shot from the point has been missing.

• Sbisa and goalie Viktor Fasth can't get their seasons going. Sbisa tore a tendon in his hand nine games after coming back from an ankle injury that kept him out for six weeks. Fasth has been limited to five games because of lower-body pain and inflammation. Frederik Andersen is an impressive 9-2 as Jonas Hiller's backup.

ERIC STEPHENS

Losing in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs to a much lower seed last season cast the Ducks in some quarters as a short-season fluke that rode a great start to a division title.

Over the first half of the 2013-14 schedule, the Ducks have offered an emphatic response to that portrayal with another eminently successful run worthy of their current place at the top of the NHL.

No one truly knows what will happen in the second half, but a 6-3 pasting of San Jose to start the back end of their schedule offered further hope the Ducks are built for the long haul.

But just how long a haul will it be? Can the Ducks keep rolling to claim another Pacific Division banner? And if so, can they be more than a regular-season wonder?

“I’ve won five divisions now and I haven’t won a Cup yet,” said Coach Bruce Boudreau, whose teams have won just two of six playoff series. “Winning it doesn’t really matter. (With) the NHL parity, any of the 16 teams that get in, when they do get in, can win the Cup.

“What matters is, if you win the division, hopefully you’re playing good at that time of the year … and you’re ready going into the playoffs.”

It is going to be Boudreau’s chief task until the middle of April when the playoffs begin. Barring a collapse of epic proportions, the Ducks should have a crack at the silver chalice for the second consecutive year.

The challenge is to remain challenged. Most of this group was around when it bolted to a 22-3-4 start in the 48-game, lockout-shortened season and had the Pacific and a No. 2 seed in the Western Conference effectively wrapped up.

There wasn’t a lot to play for and the Ducks stumbled to an 8-9-2 finish before Detroit sent them away to a bitter summer. Avoiding a repeat of that is their mission, but they'll have to keep from building up rust over the 19-day break for the Winter Olympics.

“Last year, we had an unbelievable start similar to what we’ve done this year,” defenseman Ben Lovejoy said. “And we were an average hockey team down the stretch. And that continued into the playoffs.

“We need to keep going. We need to get better in a bunch of different areas. We’ve been able to win a lot of hockey games. But we need to be consistent.”

Consistency has been their calling card. The most the Ducks have gone without winning was four games and they’ve had separate stretches of going 7-0 and 8-0-1 before ripping off a recent 10-game win streak that set a franchise record.

Big guns Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry are among the NHL leaders in goals and points. Goalie Jonas Hiller has won a team-best nine in a row to tighten his grip on the starting job.

Nick Bonino and Cam Fowler are major players, while teenager Hampus Lindholm has been a revelation on defense.

The Ducks have gotten production throughout their lineup and even temporary call-ups from the minors have had a positive effect, enabling them to withstand a plethora of injuries.

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